Thursday, July 31, 2014

"You can't be doping around when you go out Mom's driveway. People drive like a bat of hell on that highway."

I heard it every time I was going to drive out of Grandma's driveway. I heard it every time my Dad drove out of Grandma's driveway. Mom was a little less blunt and just admonished us to be quiet so she could hear.

The concern was valid. Grandma's driveway was almost at the bottom of a hill on a state highway. Highway drivers could not see the driveway until they were almost upon it. The driveway and her accompanying four room house were built when the highway was probably nothing but a dirt road and the thought of someone driving by at sixty miles an hour was not even a possibility.

Dad often took farm equipment out the driveway and Grandma would stand in the front yard at the top of the hill and look for oncoming traffic. It was difficult for him to get a tractor and wagon across the road and into the northbound lane quickly and avoid an oncoming car. Grandma would motion when it was clear. I'm certain she even stood in the front yard and motioned for me a few times when I was first driving.

Grandma died in 1994 and my Dad and my brother had to serve as their own sentries when leaving the drive.

My parents moved to my Grandma's farm about ten years after that and replaced the old farmhouse (which didn't have running water) with a new one--and a new driveway at the top of the hill and north of the old one.

The south driveway is still there, but since it's no longer in front of the house it's not used as much as it once was simply because people do drive like bats out of hell on that road.

The first picture in this post is one of my Grandma Neill, taken in the 1980s. I don't even remember why it was taken. You can barely see the highway's yellow "no passing" sign in the background. The infamous driveway is directly behind her.

The second picture in this post is of my two daughters taken a month ago in June of 2014--close to the spot where Grandma's house stood. If you look closely the same sign (or it's replacement) is in the background.

Sometimes when I'm leaving Mom and Dad's I'll drive out the south driveway just because it's still there. And I'll think Grandma's standing there in spirit, motioning on that the coast is clear.

If Dad saw me do it, he'd probably tell me "be careful they drive like bats out of hell on that highway."

I decided not to comment in the mass of comments on the original page simply because I don't want to get into arguments or discussions with numerous random people...I already have enough of those on my other pages. So, if you want to read my comments/thoughts on math, they are below:

1) Students are encouraged to use calculators entirely too soon. There is nothing wrong with memorizing basic arithmetic facts. Doing so facilitates the understanding of algebraic (and other) principles later. If you know your facts cold, then you will understand other concepts better later. Those who do not have clearly documented reasons why they can't memorize their basic facts, should. Laziness or "My Mom said I don't have to" is NOT a reason.

2) Being able to perform and remember certain computational tasks by hand (ie. long division) helps to reinforce the "why and how" of the process--but the reasons behind the process must be clearly taught and demonstrated. That helps to reinforce the process and the concepts. Simply teaching these procedures as "arbitrary" magic to be memorized doesn't do anything. The problem is that some teaching the process do not understand it, so they teach it like magic.

3) Teachers are not always prepared adequately to teach concepts in new ways. Much of the "new math" is not so much "new," but rather an attempt to more clearly model mathematical concepts from real world examples. The difficulty is that when you did not "learn" math this way yourself, it makes it a challenge to teach it in a new way...especially if there aren't really good people doing the training on this sort of thing. (Many presenters at national conferences are NOT good presenters or teachers, in my opinion and are only presenting at national conferences to get another line on their vita for tenure at a university where they will never really interact with people who are learning math at the elementary level). Modeling concepts, if done reasonably correctly, helps to reinforce concepts and the "why" behind things. My Dad never taught me my basic facts from flash cards, but I can remember as a 5 year old being asked if I have 5 hogs and I buy 2 more how many is that? Obviously higher concepts need more sophisticated real world models, but hogs I could visualize---symbols on flash cards don't always make sense to kids.

4) Parents get frustrated when their child brings home something they can't understand. Parents who are actively involved need to be made a part of the process...and if teachers know that parents may not understand something the kid brings home for homework, they need to help the parent. One third grade teacher I know (who shall remain anonymous) would copy the "instructions" or "explanation" on the back of homework sheets so that parents who helped their kids could see the instructions on the back. Of course, some parents are clueless. My 8th grade math teacher told me she had a parent (who was a farmer) demand to know why his son was being taught decimals. She asked him if he ever looked at those slips he got from the elevator when he hauled in grain. She should have asked him if he knew what corn having 20% moisture really meant.

5) The "new" math and learning any math really well requires the student to be an active participant in the process. Too many students just want to sit and watch something to learn how to do math. If watching someone "do math" was sufficient to learn it, we wouldn't have the problems we do. Students also don't like it when they are frustrated or don't understand something--they don't like to be confused. Well in order to learn something sometimes you have to be confused before you can really understand it.

6) Standardized tests, multiple choice or other wise, are a crock of (@#* that only subsidizes testing companies, gives state bureaucracies too much power, and allows some administrators who probably haven't taught in 20 years to hold the test over everyone's heads.

7) I'll stop now....but I do have a few more thoughts but I feel like I am rambling...so I'll stop.

When corporations are conceived like humans and die like humans, then they can be treated like humans. Humans have rights granted to them by their Creator.

Corporations are created because of laws enacted by the state and federal government. As such, they can be restricted by the state and federal government. Corporations have rights granted by the State.

Don't like those restrictions? Then don't incorporate, keep your assets in your own name, and do whatever the hell (or heaven) you please. Incorporation is done (usually) to protect assets because of protection afforded by state and federal laws. You want that protection? Then play by the rules.

Some old dusty book I believe says "Render unto Cesear what is Cesears." I'm pretty certain it's not a dusty old state statute book.

Stuff

I'm a former farm boy in my mid-40s who still lives in rural Illinois, by choice and preference.

All material on this website, including but not limited to blog post content, is copyright (c) Michael John Neill. Further use prohibited---passing these stories off as your own may cause people to change their opinion about you.